Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Recipes and Music Associated with #erotic romance Picture Perfect byLeslie C. Ferdinand


New Orleans is renowned for both her food and her music. In Picture Perfect, several dishes are mentioned, including gumbo. Over the next several days, I will post recipe(s) taken from the novel. The songs on the playlist were created as we discovered the characters' musical preferences. Elliot loves Classical Music while Alex is a huge fan of Prince. There's one particular song that is our stalwart matriarch's, Julia Walker, favorite. The other songs are listed because of an association with New Orleans and/or because of what we were thinking as we wrote a particular scene.

Sit back and enjoy.  Better yet, listen to the playlist as you prepare one of the dishes.

Chapter 45


"Sitting at the chef's table at the Seabreeze, Alex dipped her spoon into her bowl of gumbo and sipped it. Jade had come to the shop earlier and given her a good scolding for not answering her calls the past four days."

Shirley's Seafood Gumbo Recipe:

1 large onion
1/2 bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup shallots
2 lbs medium shrimp
1 pint oysters
3 crabs, halved
1/2 lb jumbo lump crabmeat (picked for shells)
3 qts water
4 tbsp flour
Pepper and salt to taste

Add flour to heated cooking oil. Stir until flour turns brown (this is the roux). Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, shallots, parsley and bayleaf to dark roux. Cook seasoning until soft. Stir in water and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add shrimp and crab halves. Simmer 10 minutes more before adding in remaining ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste and serve over hot, white rice.

Note: Leslie adds cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes for a spicier gumbo.



Chapter 45

6 comments:

  1. Ooh as one foodie author to another, I have to have you on my blog! Soonest!

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  2. Myra, it is so good. I can't wait until her foot is completely healed. I make file gumbo...but my mom's seafood gumbo. Delicious.

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  3. Eva, sounds great! I was going to post the blackened trout with crawfish étouffée sauce here in a couple days but I can do it on your blog. Or I can post the recipe for shrimp cannell. It isn't in Picture Perfect, but it has an oyster sauce over it that is soooo good.

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  4. Lovely music selection and that recipe has made me hungry. Off to make dinner. :)

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  5. Hi Kiru, happy dancing and bon appetit! :-)

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